Host Institution USA: National Law University

Paul Koster

Paul Koster is a professor of practice at Emory University School of Law where he teaches legal writing, legal advocacy, legal profession, and introduction to the U.S. legal system. He is also the faculty advisor to the Emory Law School Supreme Court Advocacy Program and co-faculty advisor to the Emory Moot Court Society. He was awarded the Minister Gloria Jean Fowler Angel Award by the Emory Law Class of 2024, Professor of the Year title by the Emory Black Law Students Association in 2023, and the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education in 2021.

Prof. Koster practiced law for nearly 20 years, including 10 years as managing partner of a boutique Atlanta law firm which he cofounded. While in practice, he was named a Georgia Super Lawyer on multiple occasions. Following his law school education, he served as a staff attorney for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit and as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Stephanie Duncan-Peters of the DC Superior Court. Prof. Koster is the 2024–2026 chair of the Pro Bono Committee for the Legal Writing Institute, a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Michael Caves

Judge Michael Caves has been serving on the Superior Court of California since January 2023. Before entering the judiciary, he had spent more than 15 years as a trial attorney and criminal prosecutor. J. Caves has authored nine books, including Everyday Dispute Resolution, the second edition of which was released in 2026. He is also a contributing author for the University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar and has reviewed or edited numerous academic and professional publications. His core research is focused on judicial ethics and conflict resolution. He has also taught and designed graduate courses in law, ethics, and conflict resolution for over 17 years.

He has a PhD in rhetoric and communication, a JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence), an LLM, an MPA, an MA in negotiation, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding, and a BA in communication. J. Caves is a member of a number of academic honor groups, including the Golden Key International Honour Society, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Theta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Delta Phi, and Omicron Delta Kappa. He is also a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Margaret Phillips

Prof. Margaret Phillips is a paralegal educator, lawyer, writer and access to justice activist focused on developing experiential learning for paralegal students while promoting access to justice for under-served communities. She is currently the Director of the Paralegal Studies program at Daemen University in Buffalo, New York, and prior to that she taught Legal Research and Writing at the University of Buffalo School of law and was a civil litigator with experience in negligence, civil rights, and discrimination.

As an educator, Prof. Phillips is experienced in developing curriculum, presenting and teaching on topics ranging from social justice, legal ethics, legal research and writing, introduction to law, and legal research methods. She has presented to audiences including high school groups, paralegals, paralegal educators, practicing attorneys, and college students. She was recently selected to do a Tedx Buffalo talk “What if the Constitution Could Talk?”

As a writer, Prof. Phillis is the author of a college textbook on legal analysis and writing entitled: “A Practical Guide to Legal Research and Analysis for Paralegal and Legal Studies Students.” She also writes a regular column for the Bar Association for Erie County entitled “Spotlight on Paralegals.”

Her current scholarly focus is on access to justice effort locally, nationally, and internationally. As the program director for Paralegal Studies, she has been active in creating the Paralegal Clinic course as well as community-based short-term clinics such as expungement clinics to eradicate low-level marijuana related criminal convictions.

During her Fulbright-Nehru grant, Prof. Phillips intends to collaborate, develop and co-teach legal skills curriculum for paralegals and interns at the Human Rights Law Network, the legal clinics at the National Law University Delhi, and other paralegal organizations. The primary goal is to increase these organizations’ capacity, communication and collaboration to promote access to justice. The secondary goal is to form solid collaborations between the not-for-profits and law schools to enhance access to representation. Specifically, the training and teaching will support Human Rights Law Network in hosting more volunteers, enhance and grow legal clinics at NLU Delhi, and support community paralegal networks.

Stuti Shah

Stuti Shah is a third-year doctoral candidate at Columbia Law School in New York. Her dissertation focuses on re-imagining crime and punishment in India through subaltern and feminist lenses. It engages in a critical rethinking of law and penal institutions that harm people and communities.

With a dual undergraduate degree in law and humanities from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, Stuti spent three years at Trilegal, a leading law firm in India, focusing on data protection and intellectual property law. Her academic journey then took her to the U.S., where she earned her master’s in law from Columbia Law School. In the U.S., she has been a research fellow with the African American Policy Forum, Children of Incarcerated Caregivers, Reprieve, and the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School. She has also provided research assistance to Sanctuary for Families and Broadway Advocacy Coalition.

Stuti has written editorials and op-eds for reputable publications like The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Quint, The Wire, Deccan Herald, Firstpost, and Bar and Bench. Her article, “Beyond Caste Carcerality: Re-Imagining Justice in Sexual Violence Cases”, will soon be featured in the UCLA Law Review. Additionally, her piece, “Incarcerated Women and their Children in Indian Prisons”, appeared in the Economic & Political Weekly.

Stuti’s Fulbright-Nehru project is critically analyzing the experiences of incarcerated mothers – disproportionately belonging to the marginalized castes and classes – who are allowed to raise their children in Indian prisons till the children are six years old. This project is addressing the gap between existing law and scholarship on motherhood and state protection for children in prisons, and realities on ground. It is also engaging in a comparative study of Indian law and practical challenges with the U.S. model of motherhood in prisons where babies born to incarcerated women are promptly separated a year or so after their birth.